Lewis Grabban is still awaiting his first start for Aston Villa following his move in the January transfer window.
In Aston Villa’s last four games – three of which they have managed to win – Steve Bruce’s men have had their striker to thank for finding the back of the net on just one occasion.
Scott Hogan scored that goal, in the 3-2 win over Burton Albion at the start of the month, but his performance in the weekend defeat to Fulham left a lot to be desired.
The Villans had been on such a good run leading up to the trip to Craven Cottage – having won their previous seven league games – that it would be unfair to criticise the automatic-promotion chasers too heavily, but Bruce should be looking to ensure that all of their recent momentum does not go to waste when they face Preston North End on Tuesday night.
Therefore, perhaps Villa would be wise to hand January signing Lewis Grabban a first start for the club following his loan move from Bournemouth.
Grabban has made two substitute appearances so far and struggled to make much of an impact in either game, but he has shown in the first-half of the campaign that he can be extremely effective in the Championship, having scored 12 goals during his previous loan spell, at Sunderland.
With Bruce’s striker options already stretched, giving Grabban a chance to prove that he was a good signing by handing him a start against the Lilywhites may be a smart move in case there are issues further down the line which mean that the 30-year-old automatically moves higher up the pecking order.
Now playing in a much better side than the Black Cats, Grabban should be full of confidence that he can be the man to help fire Villa to promotion, but that belief may gradually disappear if he is given more of a peripheral role in the coming weeks.
Starting him on Tuesday may be a gamble, but with Hogan struggling at the weekend, it may be a risk worth taking for Bruce.
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